


Because she'll make you feel alive

by pallasandthepeople



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: 3/5 but the last 2 are just the happy ever after, F/F, I also love Alkibiades deeply, Multi, POV of her love interest so I could fawn over Kassandra, She Deserved Better, This work also contains shameless propaganda for Klytaimnestra, Written during my lesbian awakening, title is one of the few non-depressing quotes from Hadestown, wlw, working on that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28760856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallasandthepeople/pseuds/pallasandthepeople
Summary: Kassandra inspires a farm girl to dream of a better future while traveling through Argolis, and gets herself a little storyteller in return. Alkibiades is also there, trying to get out of another mess.------Starts at the start of Kassandra's journey and continues at the end. Everything in the base game happened to her, everything in the DLC to Alexios, but you don't need to have played any of them to follow. But for those who did: know that everyone lived and is happy!
Relationships: Alkibiades | Alcibiades (c. 450-404 BCE) & Kassandra (Assassin's Creed), Alkibiades | Alcibiades (c. 450-404 BCE)/Kassandra (Assassin's Creed), Kassandra/Original character
Kudos: 6





	1. Mycenae

I first met Kassandra in Mycenae. She was the eagle bearer then already, but a younger one, a lesser-known one. Infamous in Megara but nowhere else.

I was seventeen at the time. My parents had a small pig farm near the ruins of Mycenae. The only excitement in my life came from the bandit camp there, which was close enough to cause problems from time to time. Other than that every week was exactly the same as the last and so it would continue to be.

Can you imagine then what it’s like, to be a farm girl from the province and suddenly see a demi-god appear? And not just any demi-god, no: a _daughter_ of Ares. The only women in my life had been farm women whose main job was to be as invisible as possible. And then all of a sudden a woman rode her horse into our farm and demanded attention. Can you blame me for falling madly in love with her the moment I saw her? 

‘Chaire,’ she greeted my father. He stared at her with wide eyes. ‘Could I impose on you for a moment? I need water for my horse.’ 

‘Kalimera, great warrior,’ I said, jumping to her side, ‘Of course you can use our well. Are you sure there’s nothing more you need? Where are you headed?’

She turned to me. ‘Thank you, but no. I’m on my way to the ruins of Mycenae.’

‘A great sight to behold, Mycenae. Many heroes ruled over those halls, as I’m sure you know. Some say Perseus’ shield is still buried there…. Are you aware it’s plagued with bandits?’

‘They’re the reason I’m going there.’ She nodded politely and made for her horse, but I jumped in her path. She couldn’t leave, not yet.

‘Wait,’ I said without knowing what I wanted to say. Kassandra studied my face, perhaps noticing me properly for the first time. 

‘What?’

‘You’re going there to get rid of the bandits, yes?’

‘I…’

‘Well when they’re gone, you’d be able to walk around there without any trouble. And wouldn’t it be a shame if you didn’t know anything about the place? I think you need a guide.’

She squinted her eyes. ‘And you want to be this guide.’

‘Why yes! I’m a storyteller, everyone says so, they call me Tula the Songbird, and you would hear everything about the gruesome murders and the epic fights that happened there! All the cursed descendants of Tantalos lived there. Not to mention the...’

Kassandra put her finger on my lips and I froze. ‘I have to go. It’s getting dark, and I work best with the cover of night.’

‘Of course, I understand!’

‘But… I could use a place to sleep later tonight. Those stables look comfortable. Host me, and tomorrow you can give me a tour of a safe Mycenae.’

The next morning I found Kassandra's horse in the courtyard. A wave of relief washed over me when I saw it. I had hardly slept going over all the ways Kassandra could die that night, but Kassandra's horse was there and everything had gone well.

‘Hello beauty, where is your master?’ I moved towards it slowly, careful not to startle it. The horse shook its manes.

‘Hmm,’ a voice sounded. Kassandra was in the stable, buried in hay and still in full armor. 

‘I’m so happy you’re alive,’ I smiled.

‘You won’t be if you keep talking,’ Kasandra mumbled, and she turned around to sleep again. 

My parents were in a frenzy all morning while Kassandra finished sleeping. Normally my father would go to the land, but he didn’t want to leave the house ‘without a man’ when we were having such an important guest. So he stayed and stared at the road instead. My mother on the other hand was so nervous she spent all her energy getting angry at me for not doing enough work around the house.

It was a blessing when the Eagle Bearer finally woke up. Kassandra shot one look at my parents, one look at me, and wasted no time in ushering me away. ‘This one owes me a tour through Mycenae,’ she stated before my father could process what awaited us at Mycenae. 

I had grown up next to the mighty walls of Mycenae, and it was a magical feeling to finally walk through the lion gate. I couldn’t stop smiling as I prattled on about the different heroes that had been linked to Mycenae and the amazing prayer circle at the entrance. Kassandra helped me climb the walls of the ruins and showed me spots that would have been difficult to reach on my own. She seemed more interested in my stories than I had expected. I wasn’t used to having someone listen to me, and with every thoughtful nod I fell more in love with her. 

My smile faltered when we reached the main palace. Kassandra, true to her word, had killed every single one of the bandits, and their bodies were laying right there on a pile. At least twenty of them. I had never seen that many dead people.

I noticed Kassandra’s eyes on me. ‘This is also me,’ she said. I felt my heart beating in my chest. 

‘Do you… like it?’ I managed to say after a short silence. 'Killing people, I mean?'

‘I only hurt people who have hurt others,’ she said. ‘But I probably enjoy it more than I should.’ 

‘And you get paid for this sort of thing.’ 

‘Yes.’ 

I stretched out my hand and lightly touched the arm of one of the bodies.

‘Tula? What are you doing?’ 

‘I’ve never touched a dead body before.’ 

She frowned. ‘And…?’ 

‘It’s cold.’ 

I could tell she wanted something from me. I had a feeling I knew what it was, but I wasn’t ready to hope yet.

‘What are you thinking?’ 

‘I don’t like it.’ I tried to choose my words carefully.. ‘I don’t like that you kill people. I’m sure a lot of them didn’t deserve to die, I’m not sure anyone does. But… They did some very bad things and hurt a lot of people. And nothing else was gonna stop them. So… I can live with it.’ 

It almost seemed as if Kassandra was relieved by my statement. ‘Come,’ she smiled, ‘I think you’re going to love the throne room.’ 

‘It’s still there?!’

We had wandered through the ruins for hours when we ended up on the rooftop. I was just concluding my argument for why queen Klytaimnestra had been completely justified in killing her husband when Kassandra suddenly touched my shoulder. I went quiet as she turned to face me. Something was happening and I felt my heart starting to pound in my chest.

‘Are you… enjoying the view?’ I croaked. 

She grinned but didn’t look away from my face.

‘Have you ever…,’ she started after a thoughtful silence. I shook my head violently. 

‘So do you want to…’ 

I didn’t wait for her to finish and launched myself into her arms. She was considerably taller than I was and it took me a while to figure out how to properly reach her mouth. But she met me halfway, and I dragged her down as I melted against her.

'I can't believe you get to travel the world like that,' I sighed afterward. I felt like I had just traveled the world myself, my body still tingling. 'I wish I could do that.'

'Why don't you?' She turned a lock of my hair around her finger.

'How could I? I don't have anywhere to go. I can’t fight. I can’t do anything.’

'You could come with me. I could use a songbird. My own personal storyteller.' She smiled at the idea. 

'Really?' 

She nodded.

'And do they come?'

'Some do. But then they start missing their family, get tired of sharing my enemies… It's not a happy life.' 

I will be the first, I thought. I will be the first to stay.

I thought it while we wandered through Mycenae to collect as many valuables as we could. Soon the neighborhood would hear Mycenae was theirs to take, but I had a head start for my own family. I thought it while we walked back, chills going through my spine every time our hands brushed. I thought it still when we walked up to my house. 

But then I saw my parents waiting for us. They were anxious, afraid. I was their only daughter. The protection the bandits had offered them was gone, and no one knew what would come after.

I didn’t need to tell her, Kassandra understood. And so I stayed, and Kassandra left. 

'You know what awaits you,' Kassandra said before leaving.

'A marriage and children.'

'If you want something else, at some point… know that my offer stands. Find me, I could use a storyteller. And you're made for more than this.'

That meant more than she could possibly know. I kissed her goodbye.

Two weeks later my parents announced the money from Mycenae had been enough for a dowry. Kassandra was long gone, and I was sent off to Korinth to marry.


	2. Korinth

My marriage wasn’t an unhappy one, it just wasn’t a happy one either.

Melanthos and I got along fine. He helped me make Korinth my home and respected my opinions and wishes well enough. He was a potter, a respectable trade, but we were just poor enough for me to have to be the one selling the pots. Which I loved, because it gave me something to do I enjoyed. 

Because I did find many things to enjoy, in Korinth. I enjoyed having my own place. I enjoyed the whole theatre of playing husband and wife, the knowledge that we were in this together. It was a fun charade, especially when it was still new and exciting. And when I was in the mood his body was available enough, even though I never felt truly satisfied after our encounters. 

I was Melanthos’ first wife and his first woman. He was shy around me at first. I think at one point he might have even been in love with me. Unfortunately the care and respect he showed me by day didn't translate well to our bed. An inexperienced lover I could work with, but he was too afraid of my body and my pleasure. He considered my suggestions superfluous and my body a place to put his phallus in, and so he never tried. Getting his pleasure was easy and getting mine was hard. In the end we both gave up; I preferred it to be over as quickly as possible anyways. 

And after it was over, when he'd grunted and panted and fallen down next to me, I'd close my eyes and think of Kassandra. 

I wouldn't say I was in love with her all those years we were apart. I had a life and a husband to keep me busy, and sometimes I even managed to snuck into the stables with the baker’s daughter. But Kassandra always stayed with me because of what she'd meant to me: she had shown me a future outside of what I had thought possible, and as a result I was able to see my time in Korinth as just a stage in my life I had to go through.

That didn’t mean I didn't get everything out of it that I could though. Korinth may be the capital of pottery, the enormous amount of pots offered meant I soon had to devise strategies to distinguish our stand from the others. It was fun, a challenge. I started with sorting the pots by theme and decoration, but that didn’t work particularly well. Then I sorted them by use, and all of a sudden it became very easy to redirect customers to the sort of thing they were looking for. But my stand didn’t become as famous as it now is till I started giving names to the different models. Instead of selling random pots for random uses, I now sold “The Heraklidean Cooking Pot” and “Hyacinthus' vase”. 

I learned to read, and write. The guy from the flower stand next to me helped me make the signs and write the names on them. I started asking more for my products, and surprisingly people bought them even more. In little more than three years I had taken my husband’s shop from a one-in-a-dozen pottery to one of the most famous of the city. And with a famous pottery came famous customers.

The thought that Kassandra might show up someday first occurred to me in my fourth year in Korinth. The odds were still small of course, Greece was a big place, but they had gotten slightly bigger with our fame. From time to time we received a customer that was clearly not from around there and I’d ask after the eagle bearer. Some didn’t know her, but some told me stories of a silent assassin overthrowing governments and killing kings and priests. Most agreed her victims were bad people, but her actions still caused uncertainty and fear. 

And then one day a man walked in with a purple robe and an arrogant, athenian expression on his face and I just knew, I knew he’d know her.

‘Kassandra?’ he said, ‘why yes, I do know the Eagle Bearer.’ His purple eyes bored into mine. ‘Do you?’ 

‘I do, actually!’ 

‘I see.’ He studied me with care. ‘You do look like her type, yes.’ 

‘I… do?’ 

‘Like mine as well.’ He winked. 

‘I… What can you tell me about her? Where is she?’ 

‘Last time I saw her she was back in Sparta, taking a well-deserved break. I had to leave there quite… unexpectedly.’ 

The radars in my mind started working very fast. An athenian that had had to leave Sparta... ‘Wait. Are you… General Alkibiades?’ 

He sighted. ‘I’m officially in hiding, but it isn’t going too well. Yes, I’m Alkibiades. You heard the gossip about my leave from Sparta then?’ 

‘Of course! You fucked the queen.’ 

He grinned. ‘Made love, dear, please. What has Kassandra taught you? I made love to the queen.’ 

I grinned back. 

‘So are you going to do anything, now you know where she is?’ 

‘Well…’ 

‘I’m guessing she’ll be there for at least another year. If you want to go see her, now is the time.’ 

I thought about it. ‘I don’t know if now is the time for me,’ I said. 

‘Because you are married?’ 

‘How do you…? No. Well, yes. I am married. But that’s not the reason.’ 

‘Good. Because marriage is overrated.’ 

How could I tell him that Kassandra had always symbolized my future, and I was afraid that when I would get to see her it would disappoint? ‘I’m not sure if I’m ready to go into uncertain waters yet.’ 

‘Look kid,’ he smiled, ‘I get it, leaving everything you’ve built here is difficult. Especially being a woman. But uncertain waters tend to be the most interesting. And an opportunity like this might not present itself again.’ 

I squinted my eyes. ‘What are you getting out of this?’ 

He clasped his hands together. ‘So… I could really use someone to get a message to Kassandra, right about now. I’d be willing to pay for it.’ 

‘You just met me.’ My heart had started to beat faster.

‘Have some faith in the gods! You want to go see Kassandra, I want to get a message to her, it’s almost too good to be true.’

'You don't know me,' I repeated. Alkibiades sighted.

'I'm in a difficult position and I can't trust anyone in this city. The people I do trust can't go to Sparta unnoticed, so that leaves you.'

‘When… When would I have to leave? Hypothetically?’ 

‘Hypothetically, rather tonight than tomorrow. But tomorrow would work as well.’ 

‘In this hypothetical case I wouldn’t be able to travel alone.’

‘I could offer you a guard up to the sanctuary of Achilles. Hypothetically, of course.’ 

‘And a horse.’ 

‘I’m paying you, am I not? Get yourself a mycenaean steed for all I care. Will you do it?’ 

I forced myself to think about it for a few seconds more, but my decision had already been taken. ‘I’ll leave tomorrow morning.’ 

I made sure to pack the few things I owned before going down to the pottery that evening. All the apprentices had already gone and my husband was working alone. 

‘What is it?’ he asked, impatient. I never bothered him when he was working.

‘I’ve come to say goodbye,’ I said, clutching the small dagger behind my back. He had never been violent towards me before, but he was still a man in a workshop full of heavy tools who was about to get his pride hurt. ‘I’m leaving you.’ 

His whole body fell limb. ‘You’re what?’ 

‘I’m leaving you. And Korinth, and everything.’ 

‘Is... Who… Is there someone else?’ 

‘Not really.’

‘What…?’

‘I’m going south, for now, to meet a friend. From there on I’ll see. You can claim I’m dead, remarry. Maybe find a girl who actually wants to be with you and who you want to make an effort for in bed… But this isn’t a reproach. I’m simply leaving.’ 

‘You’ll end up a hetarae or worse.’ It was the meanest thing he’d ever said to me.

‘I won’t, because I’m taking the money from my parents’ farm.’ 

His whole body went rigid. ‘You can’t, it’s my money!’ 

‘Yes… But you only got it because it was my inheritance. They were my parents. Consider it payment, for everything I’ve done for your shop.’

‘You can’t.’ He started violently shaking his head. ‘You can’t do this. We’re married. You’re mine. You have to stay with me till I die.’ 

I kneeled down next to him and touched his arm. ‘Melanthos… I’m not happy here. I want more. I might not get it, but I have to try.’ I closed my eyes and prayed to all the gods I knew. ‘ I truly wish you the best. Just...Please don’t send anyone after me.’

There’s a lot you can say about Melanthos, but he did find it in himself to not send anyone after me. And for that I am thankful. I hear he has remarried now, and I hope both he and his wife are happy. 

I had agreed to meet Alkibiades at the city gates. He emerged from the stables with a tall, ruffled and barely dressed man.

‘This is Polydeikes.’ Alkibiades smiled angelically while he dressed the man with a breastplate and weapons. Polydeikes greeted me with a glazed over look. ‘He’ll escort you to the sanctuary of Achilles as agreed.’ 

Alkibiades handed me a sealed letter and winked. ‘Don’t worry, he won’t bother you. This man has no interest whatsoever in what you have between your legs.’

I stuffed the letter in my tight underdress. ‘Nor do I in his.’

‘Then it shall be a jolly sexless ride. Oh, I brought you a steed.’ 

‘I thought I was supposed to buy one on the way?’ 

‘Yes… But this one reminded me of you. Meet Tolmos.’ He showed me a sturdy horse with uneven grey patches. ‘Kassandra’s horse is called Phobos, I thought it’d be funny. Get it? Phobos and Tolmos, fear and daring…’ He shrugged. ‘Anyways. I wanted to give you something to appease my own guilt. I know I’m sending you on this quest for selfish reasons and that I’m uprooting your life in the process. I just hope it will be worth it for you.’ 

I stroked my new horse’s nose and smiled. ‘I think it will.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alkibiades - He's quite something. If you're ever going to read a biography, make it his. He's amazing.


	3. Sparta

By the time we arrived at Sparta I had become good friends with both Polydeikes and Tolmos. It pained me to say goodbye to the former.

‘I’m always around Alkibiades,’ he winked. ‘You’ll see me again for sure.’ 

‘But I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again either. I don’t know what I’ll do after I deliver the letter.’ 

‘Well, it might be a good time to figure that out. Do you even know what you want from this Eagle Bearer?’ 

‘What I want?’

‘Yes, what you want. You’ve been talking about her the whole way, but I still don’t know what you expect from her. Do you want to ride off into the sunset together or do you want to spend the night?’ 

I realized my whole concept of Kassandra was indeed very muddled. I took a moment to untangle it. I wanted to see her, of course. I wanted to see her and relive our moment from all those years ago. I didn’t necessarily want to ride off into the sunset with her, but… ‘I want a life. She promised me she’d help me start my own life. I’d like that with or without her.’ 

Polydeikes squinted his eyes. ‘That’s a lot to ask from someone.’ 

‘Well, what are you asking of Alkibiades?’

He shrugged. 'Not enough, that’s for sure.’ 

I laughed. ‘I didn’t say I’m actually gonna ask that from her. Just that that would be the ideal outcome.’

‘Well…’

‘Maybe we won’t even like each other anymore after all these years.’ 

Polydeikes studied my face. ‘You’re a special young woman. I’m sure she will. I for one would’ve loved to ride off into the sunset with you, were it not for...’

‘... Alkibiades?’

‘Phalli in general, I’d say. One of the benefits of loving that man is that we can each do anything, and anyone, we want.’

We smiled at each other. He was a tall and handsome youth, and charming. We got along well. I found myself searching for some sort of desire, but there has been none the entire journey and there was none now.

‘I hope we do see each other again,’ he said.

‘I hope so as well.’ 

He patted me on the back, smiled, and rode off.

The journey to Sparta had been relatively safe, we had mostly evaded wild animals and fighting soldiers. The last stretch alone was not that hard either. No one stopped me at the gates. The city guards let me through without even a question on how I had traveled unaccompanied, something no woman in Korinth would even consider doing. But then all of a sudden two young girls raced past me, young, free and scarcely dressed, and I realized I was not in Korinth anymore.

Kassandra’s family house was located in the center of Sparta on the edge of a hill. It was small but had not been hard to find: everyone in town knew where the Eagle Bearer lived.

‘It’s a weird family,’ they told me. ‘Lost all relevance in Sparta just to come back and murder a king. They’ve got guts but little sense.’ 

I figured I’d get an interesting story out of my visit, if nothing else.

A woman dressed in red opened the door and looked me over. ‘Yes?’ 

It was the way she stood that threw me off. She was dressed like a normal greek woman, but she stood like a fierce warrior.

I took a moment to regain myself and beamed up to her. ‘Kalimera!’ 

‘... Good afternoon. What can I do for you?’ 

‘I bring a message. For Kassandra the Eagle Bearer.’ 

‘And who is this message from?’

‘Alkibiades Cleinieis… and also from me.’ 

‘I see. Well, Kassandra isn’t home now. She and her father are out hunting. Give it to me, I’ll pass it on.’ 

‘I… I’d rather give it to her personally.’ 

Myrinne squinted her eyes. ‘Are you appealing to the guest right?’ She shrugged. ‘Well, come in then. They’ll be back in a few hours.’ 

She gestured to me to come in. The house was nice enough, but it in no way reflected the wealth I suspected Kassandra to own.

‘Are you alone?’ I asked while I took a seat at the table. I had heard many stories about Kassandra’s family in town.

She raised her eyebrows. ‘Are you planning on poisoning me?’

‘No, I…!’

‘They’re all out. My husband and daughter are hunting, my stepson Stentor has his own place with his family, and my son is out in Makedonia… Doing his own sort of hunting.’ 

‘You have such an interesting family. I heard a lot about you in town.’ 

Myrinne shot me a look. ‘Where were you from again? I don’t recognize your accent.’ 

‘It’s a mix! I’m from Korinth, but I was born and raised in Argolis near Mycenae.’ 

Myrinne nodded. ‘Mycenae. I’ve been meaning to go there with Kassandra. She enjoys the stories of Mycenae’s history very much.’ 

My eyes widened. ‘She does?’ 

‘Yes. Did you know queen Klytaimnestra was unfairly judged in mythology? She was completely justified in killing her husband, he…’ 

‘...killed two of her children! Yes, I know! I was the one to tell Kassandra that!’

‘You know my daughter?’ 

‘I spend a day with her in Mycenae a few years back.’ 

Myrinne grinned as she put food on the table. ‘She sure leaves an impression, that daughter of mine eh?’ 

Kassandra was slightly older, slightly more scarred and slightly more beautiful than the last time I saw her, and she froze in her tracks the moment she saw me. 

‘Kassandra, you know who this is?’ Myrine asked.

‘Of course I do. The storyteller.’ A smile played about her lips.

I shuffled nervously on the chair. ‘I… I do tell stories yes. And… I understand you don’t remember my name, it’s been a while of course and I’m sure you’ve had…’

‘Tula, Tula the storyteller. Of course I remember your name.’

‘What’s going on?’ Nikolaos asked as he entered as well. ‘Who is this?’

I stood up and straightened my skirts. ‘My name is Tula. I bring a message from Alkibiades to Kassandra.’ 

‘What is that malakas up to now?’

Kassandra arched an eyebrow. ‘You’re here because of Alkibiades?’ 

I took a deep breath and tried for a coy look. ‘It was as good a reason as any?’

Kassandra arched her other eyebrow as well. ‘I can think of a few other reasons.’ 

‘You’re home late,’ Myrinne said, completely ignoring how flustered I’d become. ‘Last time I went hunting I managed to get a swine before midday. What have you two been up to all day?’

‘Did they even get a swine?’ Another man had appeared in the doorway. ‘That thing outside looks more like a hairy pig.’ 

‘Swines _are_ hairy pigs, Stentor,’ Kassandra sighed. 

‘Well did you skin it?’ Myrinne asked. ‘That stew has been on the fire all day without any meat to go for it.’ 

‘Mom, we could hardly carry a skinned pig here.’ 

‘It would explain how little hair it has,’ Stentor shrugged.

‘Stentor, what are you doing here?’ 

‘I was promised a leg.’

‘Did you promise him a leg, Nikolaos?’

‘I might have promised my grandchildren a leg.’ 

‘You know,’ Kassandra said as she sat down at the table and dragged me next to her, ‘it’s been a long day. I’m hungry. I don’t want to skin that swine. Just give me the stew without meat. Have you eaten, Tula?’

‘I did,’ I quickly said. 

The others dissolved into a blur of discussion as Kassandra turned and focused her attention on me. ‘You must have quite a story to tell, to find yourself all the way here.’ 

‘I might have taken a pottery workshop in Korinth to fame.’

‘Wouldn’t have expected less from a storyteller.’ She smiled almost proudly.

‘I’ve heard some stories about you too. Weird ones, but they were good to listen to.’ 

'And now you've come to live them yourself.'

Our hands touched on the table and I panicked lightly. I’d known what would happen at our meeting was up in the air, but I had hoped for a more rational approach than diving headfirst in the abyss.

'You remembered me.' I couldn't hide my smile.

'It's not often I get offered a tour of the forts I conquer. And a good one at that.'

'With extra benefits,' I whispered.

Now it was her turn to get slightly red cheeks . 'The benefits were good, but… You truly were memorable.’ Our eyes locked. 'I hoped you'd come, at the time. I could've used a little storyteller on my travels to make sense of everything.'

'You were pretty memorable too....'

By Zeus, I wanted her so much. I wanted her like I’d never wanted anyone in my life.

‘You simply cannot call it a stew without meat!’ Stentor suddenly shouted, taking us out of our trance. I grabbed Kassandra’s hand instinctively. 

Kassandra looked at our hands and cleared her throat. ‘Myrinne, I think I’ll go to my hut after all. I still have some bread from this morning.’ 

‘Are you sure love? Nikolaos has gone to serve you the… “broth". Does that suit you, Stentor? Broth instead of stew?’ 

I lightly stroked Kassandra’s hand with my pinky. ‘We have the message from Alkibiades to discuss,’ I said. ‘It’s euh.. Urgent.’ 

As soon as we were outside Kassandra pushed me lightly against the wall.

‘Before we do whatever we’re gonna do, I just want to say I’m... impressed,' she stated. 'I saw so much potential in you there in Mycenae, and I was so afraid you wouldn’t make it out without help…’

‘I did have…’

‘I’m sure Alky gave you a horse, but that’s not help, Tula. It was up to you to step into the unknown.’ 

‘I don’t expect anything from you.’ 

‘I know. But I’m happy you chose to figure out your life. And I wanted you to know that I’d want to help you regardless of what does, or doesn’t, happen tonight. ‘

I stroked her neck and smiled at her reaction. ‘I appreciate that. But right now I mainly wonder what “could” happen tonight.’ 

Kassandra leaned back and took a deep breath. ‘Things that probably shouldn’t happen in my parents’ street. My house is a few blocks away.’ 

I jumped up, giddy with happiness all of a sudden. ‘I’ll race you to it!’ 

I lost, of course. But when I finally had her straddled under me in her bed, both of us breathless, nothing else mattered anymore. I leaned over and licked my way up to her ear.

‘You should know,’ I whispered, ‘that none of my lovers have given me pleasure like you did.’ 

Kassandra’s eyes flung wide open and she switched our positions in one sweep. Now it was her turn to push me down. 

‘I’ll worship you,’ she said. And that was the last thing I could process for a long time.

*******

I woke up happier than I had been in ages. I was laying in a feather bed with Kassandra nuzzled up against my chest, every inch of me purring and satisfied. The only mild inconveniences were the fact that Kassandra's weight was starting to become uncomfortable..., and the parchment I felt pressing into my back.

'Kassandra,' I said, 'I still haven't given you Alkibiades' letter.'

Kassandra groaned and buried her face in my hair. 

‘I think it was important.’

'I'm not sure how long I'll keep you around if you're gonna wake me up like this.’

'He paid me a lot of money for it.'

'Less than you deserved, probably.' Kassandra sighted and rolled herself off me. 'Alright, give it then.'

The parchment was wrinkled and torn from the night we'd apparently spend on top of it, but she read it without a problem. I envied her reading skills, it would have taken me days to decipher the text.

'What does it say?'

Kassandra shot me a look. ‘Depends on what your plans are.’

‘...What?’

‘Alkibiades needs my help. If you’re planning to stick around in Sparta for a while you’d be welcome to use my house and my connections, but I wouldn’t tell you my friend’s secrets.’

‘Which you would do if…’

‘...if you’d feel like going on an adventure.’ 

I looked at the naked goddess beside me. She was even more glorious in the light of day, her hair loose and undone and her scars glistering in the sun. I chuckled. ‘Yeah. Well. So... Sparta won’t walk away anytime soon. And… I don’t have any plans. Count me in.’ 

Kassandra smiled, satisfied, and turned to rest her head on my belly. ‘Good. So you know about Alkibiades fucking the Spartan queen, right?'

'He described it as "making love" himself.'

'Goes to show how Athenian he is. Well, he arrived here after having been expelled from Athens, and now that he's had to leave Sparta too he's looking to secure a friendship with the Persians. But he needs a ship and he needs some favors, so that's where I come in. Where we come in.'

‘So it’s really just a trip? No assassinations?’

‘Well, yes, but it’s also a trip with high chances of Alkibiades being killed by both spartans and athenians and of him betraying the whole of Greece. Seems like he needs me to secure the Persian’s favour as well, but I think the situation requires some damage management before.’

I shot up when the realization hit me, almost throwing Kassandra off me.

‘Wait! So you’re taking me to Persia?’

‘I’m taking you to Nauplia, for starters. But first…,’ she pushed me down again on, ‘we’ve got other things to do.’ 

'You should know Alkibiades and I were lovers,' Kassandra said as we rode out of Sparta. 'Or rather are, whenever we meet.'

'I know,' I said. 'Figured as much, from what he and his guard told me.'

'You don't mind?'

I considered it for a while. 'For now I'd prefer to have you to myself,' I said eventually, 'but I don't own you Kassandra. I don't care about your past lovers and I won't ask you to never take another lover again. I'm happy to be your companion and your lover on this journey now.'

Kassandra squeezed my wrist. 'I feel the same.'

I sat up straight and looked at the mountains in front of us. 'But if I'd leave with all this information now, you'd murder me right?'

Kassandra smiled fondly and shrugged. 'I’d feel sorry about it.’


End file.
